The Best Things to Do in Phoenix This Weekend

Happy Halloweekend. Time to prep your costumes for Arizona Cosfest, get decked out in zombie makeup for the Zombie Walk, and watch Theater Works’ production of Frankenstein. For more things to do, visit Phoenix New Times' curated calendar.

Arizona Cosfest Right now, costumes are king. We’re currently at peak Halloween, which means stores are selling Wonder Woman and Pennywise outfits like mad, and people everywhere are getting their disguises and get-ups on point for All Hallows Eve.

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In other words, it’s the perfect time for an event like Arizona Cosfest. The two-day celebration will take place on Friday, October 27, and Saturday, October 28, at 1 West Jackson Street. It will feature an abundance of local costumes and cosplayers in attendance, as well as a variety of geek-oriented vendors and artists selling wares. Naturally, a costume contest for prizes is planned, as well as a car show, live music, and other Halloween-type fun.

Cosfest runs from 4 to 9 p.m. on Friday, and 2 to 9 p.m. on Saturday. Tickets are $10 to $15. Kids 5 and younger get in free. See the Brewfiesta website for more information.?Benjamin Leatherman

Phoenix Design Week Maybe you’ve enjoyed graphic design elements in work by local artists James Angel, Kristin Bauer, or Christopher Jagmin. Now, you can take your appreciation for graphic design to a new level, during this year’s Phoenix Design Week, which spotlights Arizona’s graphic design community – including designers, illustrators, writers, and more.

Launched in 2009, the event is a chance to go local while looking at the bigger picture of how graphic design influences contemporary society — and vice versa.

This year’s kickoff party happens from 6 to 10 p.m. on Friday, October 27, at the Rebel Lounge, 2303 East Indian School Road. Be there by 7 p.m. to catch a “Wish You Were Here” edition of Phoenix New Times’ Bar Flies storytelling series. Tickets to the 21-and-over event are $20.

Frankenstein Have you noticed all the Frankenstein-related stuff going on? It’s a fun idea in general, but 2017 in particular marks the 200th anniversary of Mary Shelley’s groundbreaking allegory of creepiness and hubris. Underestimate its literary punch at your own risk.

The novel was inspired by one of the weirdest extended slumber parties ever, on Lake Geneva in Switzerland (a place you may not think of as creepy, but we’ve had continental breakfast in Lausanne). Mary Godwin was on vacay with her married boo, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and Lord Byron, among other people. Poets, right? It’d make anyone write a horror story.

Victor Gialanella’s 1981 stage version provides for the iconic lightning-struck surgical table and other special effects. Theater Works’ production continues through Sunday, October 29, at 8355 West Peoria Avenue in Peoria. Showtime on Friday, October 27, is 7:30 p.m. Tickets, $14 to $36, are available at 623-815-7930 or the Theatre Works website. Julie Peterson

Ready for ghost stories?

Andrew Pielage

Storytime Slam If hearing about 10 different peoples’ personal ghosts and demons sounds like a fun time during the spookiest of months, then mark your calendar for Storytime Slam. It’s a storytelling event during which participants relay a six-minute story centered on a theme. On Friday, October 27, it’s “Haunted.”

More than a night of sharing, it’s also a contest. A panel of five judges will score the stories using a point system. At the end, the points are tallied and the winner gets a cash prize. Find out what’s haunting your fellow Phoenicians at 7 p.m. at Changing Hands Bookstore, 300 West Camelback Road. Admission is $6 in advance; $8 at the door. Call 602-274-0067 or visit the Changing Hands website. Amy Young

Downtown Phoenix Zombie Walk Time to bring out your undead. The Downtown Phoenix Zombie Walk is swarming into the Valley. KUPD’s John Holmberg will serve as grand marshal of this apocalyptic, family-friendly gathering, which will feature food trucks, live music, and a costume contest. If your skills in transforming into the living dead are lacking, there will be a zombification station to help you fit in with the expected 20,000 participants at this popular Halloween event.

Walk, don’t run, from 3 to 11 p.m. on Saturday, October 28, in the Warehouse District at Fourth and Jackson streets. There is a $10 entry fee that goes to the Arizona Hemophilia Association. Kids 12 and younger get in free. For more information, visit the Zombie Walk website. Jason Keil

Things are heating up for the Sun Devils.

ASU

ASU Sun Devils v. USC Trojans For professional sports leagues, the elusive golden goose is not the ubiquity of superstars or dynastic franchises, it’s leaguewide parity. Despite expressions like “any given Sunday, any team can beat any other team,” we know better than to bet against Tom Brady whenever he rolls in to Cleveland. The NBA — with its emergence of super-teams — could be facing an even greater lack of parity. College sports, however, are still wildly unpredictable.

The Sun Devils football team, for instance, entered this season with one of the worst defenses in the nation. Yet the team has gone on to upend a nationally ranked Oregon team and orchestrate a defensive masterpiece against one of the finest offensive teams in the Washington Huskies.

Moral of the story: It’s “any given Saturday” when the 11th-ranked USC Trojans visit Tempe’s Sun Devil Stadium, 500 East Veterans Way, on Saturday, October 28. Kickoff is at 7:45 p.m., and tickets are $55 and up. Visit the Sun Devils website or call 480-727-0000 for details. Rob Kroehler

Join in on the Mexican holiday.

Melissa Fossum

Día De Los Muertos Festival The Día De Los Muertos Festival is an annual celebration of the Mexican holiday where people congregate to remember those who have passed on — and to send them support in their spiritual journey. This party at Mesa Arts Center invites attendees to view altars created by local artists, and share memories at a community altar. The festival will feature food, kids’ activities, and a marketplace with vendors selling items ranging from jewelry to furniture. Live entertainment will be provided by more than a dozen performers.

The lively dead-fest happens from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, October 28, at 1 East Main Street. Admission is free. Festivities continue from noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday, October 29. Call 480-644-6500 or visit the Mesa Arts Center website. Amy Young

Join the Museum of Walking as it heads out from Steele Indian School Park.

Lynn Trimble

Walking and Writing: The Art of Taking Creativity into the Field Art and walking are inextricably intertwined for Angela Ellsworth, whose multidisciplinary work often explores the collision of art with everyday life in unexpected places. Ellsworth founded the Museum of Walking, housed at ASU in Tempe, with fellow artist Steve Yazzie in 2014. It’s all about fostering relationships between people, land, action, and site.

From 8 to 11 a.m. on Saturday, October 28, the museum will host Walking and Writing: The Art of Taking Creativity into the Field with Julie Hampton. She’s a Valley-based writer, performer, and teacher. The morning gathering includes an urban walk, writing time, and story-sharing. It starts at Steele Indian School Park, 300 East Indian School Road. It’s free, but RSVPs are requested. Visit the Museum of Walking website. Lynn Trimble

No one will be seated during the horrifying double-bandanna scene in The Unknown.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

The Unknown The current Halloween-adjacent entry in the Silent Sundays film series at historic Orpheum Theatre is The Unknown, directed by Tod Browning, who went on to make cult favorite Freaks. This 1927 flick provides plenty to deal with at a dizzying pace: an armless sideshow performer (Lon Chaney), a woman afraid of hugging (Joan Crawford), murder and attempted murder that are oddly unrelated to the presence of professional knife-throwing, and a strongman who does the most original horse trick ever.

Probably the coolest element, though, is live accompaniment on the Mighty Wurlitzer pipe organ. Tickets are $15 and $20 (with children younger than 12 admitted free) for the screening at 203 West Adams Street on Sunday, October 29, at 2:30 p.m. Call 877-840-0457 or visit the Ticket Force website. Julie Peterson

Ballet Arizona performs one of the best known pieces of classical ballet.

Alexander Iziliaev

Swan Lake Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake is one of the best-known pieces of classical ballet. It’s produced by companies all over the world 140 years after its premiere.

Ballet Arizona will present its take at Symphony Hall, 75 North Second Street, from October 26 through 29. In the show, hunter Prince Siegfried falls in love with Odette, the Swan Queen. But the couple must contend with the evil motives of sorcerer Von Rothbart. Ballet Arizona’s dark version of the tale keeps elements of the original while incorporating choreography from artistic director Ib Andersen.

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Tickets start at $25, and discounts are available for seniors, students, members of the military, and groups. Sunday features a matinee performance at 1 p.m., and an early evening show at 5:30. For more information, call 602-381-1096 or see the Ballet Arizona website. Laura Latzko

Cash’d Out We can never get enough of the music of Johnny Cash. If you feel the same way about the late country crooner, you’ll wanna be at the Rhythm Room on Sunday, October 29.

That’s when the Johnny Cash tribute band Cash’d Out will perform classics from the Man in Black. Arizona Cowpunk band The Earps will round out the rocking bill.

Doors will open at 7 p.m., and the show begins at 8 at 1019 East Indian School Road. For more information on this 21-and-over event, visit the Facebook event page. Admission is $15. Lindsay Roberts

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